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U.S. attorneys to watch elections across Georgia

Special to the Courier

POSTED:October 25, 2008 5:00 a.m.

SAVANNAH — United States Attorney Edmund A. Booth Jr. announced that Assistant United States Attorneys R. Brian Tanner in Savannah and David M. Stewart in Augusta will lead efforts to implement the Justice Department's nationwide election day program for the Nov. 4 general elections. Tanner has been appointed to serve as the district election officer for the Southern District of Georgia, which includes Hinesville, and in that capacity he is responsible for overseeing the district's handling of complaints of election fraud and voting rights abuses, along with Justice Department headquarters in Washington, D.C. While he was in office, former Attorney General John Ashcroft established a department-wide ballot access and voting integrity initiative. The goals of this initiative are to deter voter intimidation, suppression, discrimination and election fraud and to prosecute these offenses whenever and wherever they occur — to make voting easier and cheating harder. The department's election day program furthers the goals of the initiative. The program is intended to ensure public confidence in the integrity of the election process by providing local points of contact within the department to whom the public can report possible election fraud and voting rights violations while the polls are open on election day. In order to respond to complaints of election fraud or voting rights abuses Nov. 4, and to ensure that such complaints are directed to the appropriate authorities, Tanner and Stewart will be on duty in the Southern District of Georgia while the polls are open.Regarding the upcoming election, Booth said, “Election fraud and voting rights abuses dilute the worth of votes honestly cast. They also corrupt the essence of our representative form of government. As crimes against both the individual and the government, they will be dealt with promptly and aggressively.”